Over-UnderUrban Public Bench Reinvented


2016
Winnipeg, Canada

In collaboration with Laura-India Garinois

Awarded 1st Place by STUFFgroup, Featured in Cornell AAP News
Cornell University AAP Spring 2017 Newsletter, and The Street is a Public Space by STUFFgroup




Over-Under challenges the typical understanding of a public bench by turning inward. Alongside additional seating and bike storage created, the orientation of the seating dramatizes the ordinary, mundane dialogue between the street and the sidewalk, creating new opportunities for connectivity and conversation. A simple, welded structure made of circular and square steel sections support ten plywood steps, en face, while a translucent, acrylic screen anchors and embraces the whole. All materials for the bench were repurposed and recycled after its disassembly.

Bench across from the MAKE Coffee storefront



Visitors taking a break from their bike ride



Axonometric diagram
Initial Exploded Component Diagram




A social reinterpretation of the bench





Liam Martin



A designer in Brooklyn, New York